Hi. You're listening to Cultivate
Curiosity, a podcast.
That inspires the next generation to stay
curious.
Cultivate Curiosity is brought to you by
the Emerald Coast Science Center, a
nonprofit.
Interactive science museum and steam
educational facility in Fort Walton Beach,
Florida.
This podcast is perfect for anyone curious
about the world we live in, because.
You never know what we'll talk about
next.
Hi, everyone. My name is Jacie, and
I'm the social media coordinator at the
Emerald Coast Science Center. And on
today's episode, we're talking about bats
in honor of Bat Week. Bat Week
is from October 24 to 31st. This
year, Bat Week is an annual celebration
of bats and the many roles they
play in our ecosystems. The international
event is organized by a team of
representatives across North America from
conservation organizations and government
departments. Bat Week strives to show the
critical importance of bats and raise
awareness of conservation efforts
worldwide. Everyone can join in on the
Bat Week fun by learning more about
bats, engaging in bat activities also
known as battivities, and discovering
current bat science. Let's first learn a
little bit about bats. Bats have been
called creepy, scary and spooky. But they
are an important species that impact our
daily lives in ways we may not
even realize. From pollinating our
favorite fruits to eating pesky insects,
to inspiring medical marvels, bats are
heroes of the night. There are over
1400 species of bats worldwide. Bats can
be found on nearly every part of
the planet, except in extreme deserts and
polar regions. The difference in size and
shape are equally impressive. Bats range
in size from kitty's hognose bat, also
called the bumblebee bat that weighs less
than a penny, making it the world's
smallest mammal, to the flying foxes,
which can have a wingspan of up
to 6ft. The United States and Canada
are home to about 45 species of
bats. Not all bats hibernate. Even though
bears and bats are the two most
well known hibernators, not all bats spend
their winter in caves. Some bat species,
like the spotted bat, survive by migrating
in search of food to warmer areas
when it gets chilly. Bats have few
natural predators. Disease is one of the
biggest threats. Owls, hawks and snakes
eat bats, but that's nothing compared to
the millions of bats dying from white
nose syndrome. The disease, named for a
white fungus on the muzzle and wing
of bats, affects hibernating bats and has
been detected in 37 states and seven
Canadian provinces. This deadly syndrome
has decimated certain species more than
others. It has killed over 90% of
northern Longeard, Little, Brown and
tricolored bat populations in fewer than
ten years. Scientists are working to
understand this disease without bats. Say
goodbye to bananas, avocados and mangoes.
Over 300 species of fruit depend on
bats for pollination. Bats help spread
seeds for nuts, figs and cocoa, the
main ingredients in chocolate. Without
bats, we also wouldn't have plants like
agave or the iconic sogaro cactus night
insects have the most fear from bats.
Each night, bats can eat their body
weight in insects numbering in the
thousands. The insect heavy diet helps
foresters and farmers protect their crops
from pests. Bats are the only flying
mammals. While the flying squirrel, or
sugar glider, can only glide for short
distances. Bats are true flyers. A BAT's
wing resembles a modified human hand.
Imagine the skin between your fingers
larger, thinner and stretched. This
flexible skin membrane that extends
between each long fingerbone and many
movable joints makes bats agile flyers.
The longest living bat is 41 years
old. It's said that the smaller the
animal, the shorter its lifespan. But bats
break that role of longevity. Although
most bats live less than 20 years
in the wild, scientists have documented
six species that live more than 30
years. In 2006, a tiny bat from
Siberia set the world record at 41
years. Like cats, bats clean themselves.
Far from being dirty, bats spend a
lot of time grooming themselves. Some,
like the colonial bat, even groom each
other. Besides having sleek fur, cleaning
also helps control parasites. Bats are
inspiring medical marvels. About 80
medicines come from plants that rely on
bats for their survival. While bats are
not blind, studying how bats use
echolocation has helped scientists develop
navigational AIDS for the blind. Research
on bats has also led to advances
in vaccines. Some of the BAT's unique
features, like membrane wings and
echolocation, have inspired technological
advances in engineering. Drones that have
thin and flexible batlike wings are in
the works, as well as tiny, more
efficient sonar systems for navigation.
The wingsuits used by base jumpers take
more than a few cues from BAT's
aerodynamic bodies. So now that we know
a little bit about bats, let's do
some myth busting. Can you guess that
these statements are myth or fact? The
first one is bats are just mice
with wings, so this is a myth.
Although bats are small like rodents,
they're more closely related to primates
and humans than they are to mice
or rats. The next one is. Bats
drink blood. So this one is actually
fact. There are species of bats called
vampire bats that rely on the blood
of other animals to survive. Vampire bats
live in Latin America and primarily feed
on cattle or other large animals, which
often don't even notice the bat when
it comes for dinner. The next one
is all bats are rabid. So this
is a myth. Less than 1% of
bats have rabies, but the bats that
act strangely or contact humans are ten
times more likely to be sick with
rabies. The last one is Bats are
blind. This is a myth. Bats can
see just fine and actually have pretty
good eyesight. In fact, some of the
larger fruit eating bats can see three
times better than humans. And as mentioned
earlier, they do use echolocation. But
this does not mean that they are
blind. Awesome job. Doing some myth
busting. Now, do you want to celebrate
with some battivities? Visit BatWeek.org
Educate, which will be linked in our
podcast description for activity booklets,
coloring sheets, recipes made with bat
dependent ingredients, and instructions on
how to make an origami bat. If
you want to celebrate by helping bats,
there are a few things you can
do at home. This includes learning more
about bats in your area, limiting
herbicide and pesticide use, creating a
garden for bats, turning off lights for
bats at night, or even building a
bathouse, which we actually have three
bathouses here at the Science Center, and
you can learn more about what those
look like in our reptile room. So
to learn more about Bat Week so
that way you can celebrate in your
own style, please visit the National Park
Services website, which will be linked in
our podcast description. Since it's a
little bit long, but that is all
I have for you guys today. I
hope you enjoyed learning a little bit
more about bats and that you find
a way to celebrate Bat Week this
week, especially since Bat Week ends on
Halloween. I'm sure there's something you
can figure out that you can do
to celebrate the bats who are very
important to our ecosystems. Thanks for
listening. We will be back in two
weeks with a new podcast episode. See
you then. Bye. Thanks for listening to
this week's episode of Cultivate
Curiosity.
If you have any questions, feel free
to email us at socialmedia@ecscience.org.
Tune in for our next episode in
two weeks.